Child porn fears over high school yearbook as dance photo shows students in the background 'having sex'

High school students could face child porn charges after a picture that appears to show a young couple having sex during a school dance was printed in the yearbook.

Authorities were contacted after horrified parents and teachers noticed the school dance photograph, in which 17-year-old appears to have his hand inside the clothing of a 15-year-old girl.

Amid concerns that the picture might show sexual penetration, students at the school in California are being asked to turn in the books, which had already been distributed.

Scandal: Police charges may now be brought against a 17-year-old boy at Big Bear High School in California, who was pictured with his hand up a girl's skirt

Detectives are contacting students who haven't returned them with a stern
warning that they could face charges of possessing child pornography.

Shocking: All the yearbooks were immediately recalled amid fears they could contain child pornography

San Bernardino County investigators were notified on Tuesday and Big Bear High School employees and detectives began collecting the yearbooks in the mountain community at Big Bear Lake, 70 miles east of Los Angeles.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said the couple is in the background of the photograph and went unnoticed by the yearbook adviser.

'You know, how you look at a photo and don't notice what's in the
background? Then, it's, "Oh my gosh, look what's going on back there,"'
she said.

'The photo was taken at a dance and
the suspect and victim are not the focus of the photo. They are in the
background and likely didn't know they were in the photo.

'When the adviser scanned the photo, it was very easy to overlook.'

Authorities said no one had yet been arrested over the printing error.

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Students will now be given a new
version of Timberlene, the school yearbook with a 'replacement page
insert' to cover the alleged child pornography, according to the school
district office.

Tim
Larson, Director of Education Services, said: 'After distribution began,
it was discovered that the background of one of the pictures contained
material that was inappropriate.

You know, how you look at a photo and don't notice what's in the
background? Then, it's, 'Oh my gosh, look what's going on back there'

Cynthia Bachman, Sheriff's spokeswoman

'Upon learning of this the school administration immediately stopped distribution and issued a recall of all the yearbooks that had been dispersed.

'The yearbooks are being edited and returned to the students who purchased them. A replacement page insert has been ordered and will be provided to all students with a yearbook.'

He added: 'School and district administration are conducting an investigation into the matter and will take appropriate action based on their findings.'

The incident at Big Bear High School is the latest American yearbook disaster this year.

A furious row broke out at Wenatchee High School, in Washington, earlier this month after a photograph of two freshman girls was printed accidentally in the yearbook with the captions 'fatty and skinny'.

The yearbook editors are thought to have written the offensive descriptions to hold during the design process as they did not know the girls names.

But they forgot to update the page and more than 1,000 copies of the book were printed before they realised their embarrassing error.